The Cell
by Doctor'sCompanion17
Summary: Based off the promo for episode 5x09, Damon is taken back to his old cell where he comes to terms with the fact that he's back in the place he's tried to forget for decades. Elena is oblivious and being fooled by Dr. Wes, Stefan is playing house with Katherine, and everyone else is in their own little world. How long will Damon suffer at the hands of Augustine. First fanfic ever!
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1: The Cell **

**All rights reserved by the L.J. Smith and the CW Network.**

**Damon's P.O.V**

A groan filled the dark, dank cell, emanating from the figure leaning against the unforgiving stone wall. The figure's eye's flickered open. The look of confusion could be seen in the eyes of the man, but the confusion soon turned to terror. The eyes searched the room in a frenzied manner until they landed on the wall to the side of his head. There on the wall were the initials he himself had carved into the wall decades ago: D.S '53. His terror only heightened and was soon seized by the memory's he had tried to bury for so long.

**Flashback to 1953-**

He slowly came to, waking up to find he was yet again strapped down to the medical gurney. Fear encompassing him, he began to fight against the straps, though the effort was futile. The never ending vervain injections had taken all of his strength, as well as the ability to heal his injuries, created by the never ending experimentation done to his body.

The sound of footsteps hitting the stone floor only increased the terror he was feeling. The footsteps came to a stop to the right of his body. He slowly turned his head and saw the psychopathic doctor. "Hello 21051. Ready to begin today's scientific advancements." The man lying on the gurney mustered up the energy to say, "My name is Damon Salvatore and what you're doing isn't scientific advancements, it's torture." The doctor turned away from Damon and laid down the instruments on the nearby, stainless steel table. Turning back around, he said, "Perhaps. Now your new name is subject 21051." Damon could only stare at the man standing over him and think of ways he could possibly escape. Somehow knowing what 21051 was thinking, the doctor said, "You can stop thinking of ways to escape. Once you enter the Augustine Project, you can never leave. So that's enough talking. Let's get started."

Walking back over to the table, he picked up one of the many instruments laying on the steel table. Turning around he showed Damon his instrument of choice. It was a sharp, steel scalpel. "So 21051, today we are going to research what will happen if certain organs are removed from the body of a vampire. Feel free to scream." Damon, upon hearing this, began to panic, moving frantically on the gurney. Upon seeing 21051's jerky movements on the gurney, he laid down the scalpel and produced an intradermal needle filled with vervain. "This dosage won't knock you out, but it will calm you enough that you won't be jumping around on the gurney." The doctor moved to the subjects arm and injected the vervain. Damon's jerky movement slowed and soon stopped. The doctor then picked the scalpel back up.

Watching the doctor walk back to the gurney with the menacing scalpel, Damon's stomach dropped. He couldn't do anything to stop the man and knew that the next minutes, maybe hours, would be extremely painful. The doctor stopped next to Damon's stomach and lowered the scalpel. Damon, not the one to beg or plead, gritted his teeth when the cold, metal scalpel touched his skin and prepared to deal with the pain . "Here we go," said the doctor. Damon felt like a white, hot fire was cutting him when the first incision was made and couldn't help but scream. After the incision was made, the doctor pulled the skin of his stomach apart and thrust his and into the stomach of his subject. Upon feeling this, Damon screamed louder than he had the first time. The hand then proceeded to root around in the depths of his body until it found what it had been searching for: the intestines. The hand then began to pull.

Damon was at a loss to what level of pain he was feeling. He could only comprehend that he couldn't feel anything but pain. Not being able to stand the extreme pain, Damon began to plead with the psychotic doctor. 'STOP. PLEASE STOP!" The doctor, however, just continued with his research. The hand finally pulled itself out his stomach, but instead of feeling relief, the pain only intensified. Damon looked down at his stomach and saw a horrible sight. As the hand was pulled out, as was his intestines. Seeing this and feeling the horrible pain, he finally passed out. The doctor, after seeing that subject 21051 had passed out, put the intestines back inside the stomach and documented the healing process. "Your pain is my happiness," said the doctor.

**End Flashback**

A noise in the present day happened to snap Damon out of his flashback. Looking around for the noise, he noticed Dr. Wes standing on the other side of the bars to his cell. Damon, still weak from the atomized vervain, slowly made his way to stand in front of Wes. "Happy to be home again," taunted Wes. "I told Augustine that you're back. He was very happy to say the least. He even began thinking of new ideas for research." Damon, upon hearing this yelled, "Let me out of this place or you'll experience a long agonizing death. I refuse to be a lab rat again." Wes just laughed at Damon's petty threat and began to walk away. While walking he shot back at Damon, "You better get used the being back. Augustine will want to see you soon."

**Elena's P.O.V**

"Caroline I'm sorry alright. If I hadn't done anything Damon would be dead. Is that what you really want," yelled Elena, throwing cups and other trash items into a trash bag. "Elena, that's not what I'm saying. I just know that the old Elena would have done something else to help instead of killing. We promised Jesse that we would help him," Caroline fired back at Elena, while aggressively cleaning the room. "And we were going to, but that was before we knew his diet was vampire blood. He wasn't safe to be around. I know you liked him, but how long would it have been before he tried to suck you dry," screamed Elena. Caroline, feeling the anger seep out of her, sat down in the nearest chair and took a deep breath. Finally she looked at Elena and said, "Your right. Jesse was too far gone and would have been a danger. I just wish that we could have done something to help him." Elena, hearing how sad Caroline was, sat down next to her and put her arms around her, giving her a hug and said, "I know. Let's forget about cleaning all this up tonight and wait until tomorrow to pick everything up." "Okay," agreed Caroline.

Elena and Caroline stoop up and began to make their way up to their room. After making it to their room and changing into their pajamas, Elena grabbed her cell. "Where did Damon go. I never saw him after he left to deal with Dr. Wes," said Caroline. "I don't know I'll text him and find out what happened," said Elena. "_Hey, what happened after the incident with Jesse?" _Elena sent to Damon.

**Wes's P.O.V**

****Wes, who was cleaning up in his lab, after everything had quieted down, felt a vibration in his pocket. He pulled out the vibrating object, remembering that he had taken Damon's phone to prevent him from calling for help. Looking at the phone, he saw that there was a message. He opened the message and saw that it was from Elena and read it. Thinking fast, he wrote a hasty message saying, "_I drained Dr. Psycho of vervain and compelled him to forget everything to do with vampires or anything else supernatural. Sherriff Forbs called and said that she need help with a little thing back in Mystic Falls, so I headed out pretty quick, thinking it might be urgent. I'm sorry I didn't come see you before I left." _He then pressed send. A minute later there was reply. Elena's message read, "_Okay. Just make it up to me later. Preferably when we're alone." _Wes closed the phone and felt smart for his quick thinking, though a little disgusted for reading the last part of the message. "If only you knew," Wes said to himself, in the dark, quiet room.

**Stay tuned for the next chapter. Reviews may hurry the process along, though. Thank you!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: The Morning After**

**All rights reserved by L.J. Smith and the CW Network.**

**Damon's P.O.V**

Sitting in his cell, the only thing Damon could do was think of the torture to come. He hoped that Elena would figure out where he was, but doubted help would come any time soon, since someone had taken his phone. Tired of sitting on the cold, stone floor, Damon stood up and began to pace around the cell. No matter what, he was unable to keep his mind of the impending torture that he would eventually experience. Slamming his fist into the wall where his initials are carved, Damon could only think that the past few weeks had not been going very well and were likely not to get any better. Walking away from the wall he began to pace even faster.

"All this pacing makes you look like a caged animal, but then again, isn't that what a vampire really is," exclaimed Wes approaching the cell, hands behind his back. Upon hearing Dr. Wes's voice, Damon stopped his pacing and turned towards the doors of his cell. "What do you want, Dr. Creepy," he fired back. "Oh nothing. Just wanted to let you know that Elena isn't suspicious of your whereabouts. She thinks that you're back in Mystic Falls helping Sheriff Forbes with something. I think her message was 'Okay. Just make it up to me later. Preferably when we're alone,' taunted Wes, waving Damon's cell phone in the air.

Damon, feeling his chances for escape dwindling every time Wes opened his know-it-all mouth, shot back, "She'll figure it out. She'll know there's something wrong when I don't answer her calls. This little kidnapping stunt of yours isn't going to work," remarked Damon, walking towards Wes. "Perhaps. But even if your little girlfriend does figure it out and is smart enough to figure out where you're being held, well, you'll just have someone to keep you company," informed Wes. "By the way an old friend of yours wants to see you," informed Wes. While Damon realized who Wes was talking about, Wes moved as fast as lightning, pulled out a pistol and shot Damon point-blank in the head. "Right now actually," said Wes as Damon fell hard.

**Elena's P.O.V**

BEEEEEEEEP. BEEEEEEEP. BEEEEEEP. "Elena. Turn your alarm clock off. I can't take that incessant beeping noise," yelled Caroline from her bed. "K," drawled Elena slowly hitting the off button on her alarm clock. "Well, we might as well get up and start the day," chimed in Bonnie, who had been roused by the alarm clock and voices. "You mean clean don't you," Elena responded. "Well, we didn't do it last night so we need to get it done here pretty soon, or people are going to get irritated," argued Caroline. "Besides, Bonnie can give us all the dirty deets about registering for classes." "Actually, I prefer not knowing anything," countered Elena, who had slowly rolled out of bed and was getting dressed for the day. "Uh. I need something to talk about," replied Caroline. "The only people here I can really talk to are you guys and…..well only you guys now that Jesse's gone." "Caroline, I said I was sorry," Elena responded.

During this conversation Elena remembered Damon telling her that Sheriff Forbes was having a little trouble in Mystic Falls and decided to ask Caroline if she knew anything specific. "Hey Caroline, has your mom mentioned anything weird or dangerous going on in Mystic Falls. Damon told me that she called and needed his help so he went back to help, which is why no one saw him after the incident." "My mom and I haven't talked in a few days, but she never hinted that there was anything going on. I can call her today and find out, though," replied Caroline, who had finished getting ready for the day.

Looking around, Elena noticed that they were all dressed and ready for the day. "So, we should probably finish up downstairs real quick so we won't be late for class," she announced. "Yeah. I guess your right," acknowledged Bonnie, who during everything had texted Jeremy. "Maybe you guys can use some vampire speed to speed up the process," she added as they began to head down to the lobby. Caroline and Elena shared a conspiratorial look and at the same time said, "Why, so you can text Jeremy more? Ooh la la."

**Wes's P.O.V**

After shooting Damon, Wes motioned for the two helpers, who had stayed just out of sight so Damon couldn't see them, to come closer. Opening the doors to the cell, he told them to grab the body. The helpers, used to doing this sort of job, immediately did as they were told. "He has an appointment with Augustine. You know where to take him," Wes told them, while closing the doors of the cell.

Out of curiosity, one of the helpers asked, "Why is this vampire having a one-on-one session with Augustine. He hasn't even been here for a full day. Is he important or something?" Wes looked at the helpers and then down at the body. "This isn't the first time this vampire has been here, but the second. He was here during the '50s. One day he escaped. No one knows how he did it, but Augustine vowed to himself that day that subject 21051, a.k.a Damon Salvatore, would reenter the project and pay dearly for his escape," explained Wes. "When I told him that I caught him, he was ecstatic." The helpers, satisfied with the explanation, nodded and proceeded to pick up the body and carry it to its destination. "Have fun Damon," Wes called after the unconscious body.

**Damon's P.O.V**

Jerking awake, he noticed a sharp pain emanating from his frontal lobe. Remembering that Wes had shot him there, he reached up to remove the bullet, but found that he couldn't. Finding that he couldn't remove the bullet, he began to thrash in the restraints forced upon him. The pain in his head increased as he thrashed around on, what he could discern, a medical gurney.

The pain in his head was soon forgotten as he realized the specifics of the gurney and what agonizing truth it held. The thrashing intensified upon this realization. However, a noise in the room immediately ended his thrashing. Still experiencing terrible pain in his forehead, he slowly turned his head towards the area he heard the noise. Upon seeing the source of the noise, Damon's pale skin became even paler, his breathing accelerated, and he began to shake in fear. "Hello subject 21051. Long time no see," said the man in the corner of the room. Damon could only utter one word with a voice full of dread, "Augustine."

**DUH! DUH! DUHHHHHH! Left you with a cliffy. Leave a review and check back later. Thanks!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: The Deal**

**All reserved by L.J. Smith and the CW Network.**

**Thanks so much to everyone who has read The Cell and loved it. I plan on continuing the story even after the episode premiers on Thursday. Now here's the chapter everyone's been waiting for.**

**Augustine's P.O.V**

The news of 21051's capture was like music to my ears. My mind immediately jumped to possible experimentation's that would cause the utmost pain to subject 21051. He would regret escaping in the '50s. He will beg and plead for the torture to end and just when he thinks it's over, I'll increase his pain. But first, plans for the future must be made. He will not escape from me a second time. His troublesome friends and girlfriend will need to be convinced that, Damon is it, has left them and will never return, that he found a new, better life away from the heartbreak known as Mystic Falls. That way there's no chance for escape. Plans came to mind that would need to be shared with only a select few. But those plans could wait, first he wanted to have a one-on-one session with Damon, which, checking his watch, would be in the next few minutes.

Right on time, the two helpers arrived carrying Damon's unconscious body. Speaking to the two helpers he said, "Put the body on the medical gurney over there," pointing towards the middle of the room. The two helpers did as they were told and quickly left the room, not over excited to be in the presence of the Augustine vampire, no matter how long they've worked for him. Waiting. That's what he did for the next half hour or so, just waited for 21051 to wake up to the world he's most likely tried so hard to forget. Waiting to see the fear in his eyes. And when he saw that fear, he would increase it tenfold. He couldn't wait. To make time pass more quickly, Augustine prepared the essential tools for his session with subject 21051.

A noise soon stopped him in his tracks, a rustling. He slowly turned around and saw 21051 trying to remove the bullet Wes had shot him with, which soon turned to full-out thrashing. Not wanting him to receive all his pain from thrashing around on the gurney he purposefully made a noise, to alert the creature on the gurney of his presence. When both pairs of eyes met, Augustine saw the fear he had oh so missed in the past sixty years and could wait no longer to increase the fear. Breaking the silence in the previously deadly quiet room, he said, "Hello Damon. Long time no see." The returning answer, "Augustine," was uttered with a voice full of dread. The time to begin was now.

**Damon's P.O.V**

Upon being recognized, Augustine moved towards him. Damon tried to move away from the approaching figure, but could not. This seemed only to encourage Augustine to move faster towards the gurney, and before they both knew it, he was staring down at him. Damon, usually being a man of many words, was wordless in his absolute terror. "21051," said Augustine, "you are going to regret escaping my clutches all those years ago." Before Damon could comprehend anything else, he felt a blinding pain. The pain was caused by Augustine using his vampire speed to press the bullet, lodged in Damon's forehead, even deeper. Damon screamed and yelled for the pain to go away, but was ignored. Finally, however, the pain did end, only for a new, sharper, mental one to begin.

Augustine, growing tired of only causing pain to the forehead, quit pressing the bullet deeper and removed it all together. Damon released a sigh of relief. "Oh 21051, you don't really expect that to be it for the day do you?" asked Augustine. Damon, one to always laugh and be sarcastic in the face of danger, responded to Augustine's question with, "No. I expected a long soliloquy of how you are going to exact revenge on me for escaping in the '50s. Then I expected you to keel over and die. How am I doing so far?" "You always were a smart mouth, weren't you. Well, I hope to remedy that in the next few months to years," responded Augustine. "What are you talking about," exclaimed Damon. "I won't be here but a few days tops. Elena and Stefan will find me and break me out."

He could only hope that what he said would truly happen, but of course that hope was soon dashed when Augustine opened his mouth and said, "I wouldn't plan on any rescue attempts any time soon. I've already figured out exactly how to throw everyone you care about off of your trail, so you can stay here indefinitely. Would you like to know what my plan is?" Damon could only stare back at him, a face full of shock. "I'll take that as a yes. Wes has your cell phone. That is all I need to carry out my plan. I will send a message to Elena saying that you're done with the relationship and you're moving on with your life. We'll take photos from your photo gallery on your phone and Photoshop them to make it look like you're actually moving on. Elena believes that you compelled Wes to forget everything supernatural, so he will be an integral part in the plan. He'll be able to keep an eye on your girlfriend and be in charge of your cell phone. You will also play a key part in the plan," explained Augustine, who walked a short distance from Damon.

Damon, who had become more wide-eyed by the minute, began to laugh when Augustine said that he would willing help in this loony plan of his. "You honestly think that I'm going to going to go along with this," Damon asked Augustine, with a voice full of humor, which slowly changed to one of complete seriousness. Augustine, who had walked a fair distance from the gurney, turned and looked Damon in the eye and said, "Of course I do. See I want to make a deal with you." Damon continued to stare at the vampire but asked, "What do you mean a deal?" "I mean Damon, that you love Elena right? What about Stefan? Caroline? Would you risk any of them ending up in here. My deal is that you go along with this plan and your family, girlfriend, and friends will be unharmed and never be inducted into my research. Any suspicion of Elena and Caroline at the college will be lifted. Your brother probably wouldn't even notice you were gone until Elena said something, so we wouldn't have to worry so much in that department, would we? So Damon, could you bear to see any of them in here with you, having one-on-one sessions with me," asked Augustine. Damon thinking quick on his feet, but not literally since he was strapped to the gurney, replied, "How can I trust you? That you'll pull through on your part of the deal?" "You can't, but I will give you weekly updates to prove that they are safe and sound. I also don't want you escaping anytime soon and if I have to give up a few vampire candidates, than so be it. I want you to suffer for escaping. Do we have an agreement?" asked Augustine. Damon didn't want to give up all hope of escape, but did not want Stefan, Elena, heck even Caroline, to experience the pain he had and was experiencing. So with a heavy heart, Damon uttered the three-letter word that would seal his fat. "Yes." Augustine pulled out his cell phone a typed a quick message and pressed send. "Now we can get started with the medical advancement procedures I've come up with," exclaimed Augustine, moving with vampire speed to stand next to Damon, holding a sharp, metal scalpel. Damon felt his stomach drop to his feet, not just from seeing the scalpel, but for agreeing to go along with the plan.

**Wes's P.O.V**

While preparing for his next class, he felt a vibration in his pocket. Pulling out his cell phone, he noticed a message from Augustine. He opened the text he had received and read, '_Put the plan into action_.' Wes knew exactly what the message meant since Augustine had told him earlier in the day of his plan to prevent Damon from ever escaping again. While he believed that the friends of the said vampire should be captured and fixed, he did not voice his opinions in his fear of angering Augustine.

Closing his phone, he replaced it back in his pocket and pulled out the phone belonging to Damon. Scrolling through the contacts, he found the name of who he was looking for: Liz Forbes. He soon typed out a message reading, '_Hey Liz. I just wanted to let you know that I'm done. Done with life in Mystic Falls. I told Elena that I went back to Mystic Falls to help you out with a problem, but really my foot is heavy on the gas pedal. Elena was a big part of my leaving, so please go along with it if she or Caroline calls you looking for me. I'm not asking for you to lie forever, only a few days or so, that way I can get far away from Virginia. Stefan will hate me for this and Elena will surely want to kill me for leaving, but Liz, I can't take it anymore. Elena is destined to be with Stefan, which means she can never truly love me and I love her so much. Being around them would hurt too much. You've been a great drinking buddy and I'm going to miss you. Don't worry about the Boarding House, Stefan will take care of it. Bye.' _Wes finished the message and pressed send. He then put away the cell phone. Looking at the clock, he noticed that his class would begin in just a few minutes. He finished preparing for his class and waited for his students to finish filing into the classroom. He then began to teach.

**Check back in a few days for the next chapter. I love how the story is going so far! I hope you all are as well. Reviews are always good ways to speed up the writing process. **


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4: Plan for PTSD  
**

**All rights reserved by L.J. Smith and the CW Network.**

**Can't wait for Thursday!**

**Caroline's P.O.V**

Finally that class was over. Usually my drama class is exciting and alive, but today it just seemed like the class would never end. Sending a quick text to Elena and Bonnie explaining what she was doing for the day, she began walking to her car. Starting the engine, she began the long three-hour drive back to Mystic Falls. She needed to have a heart-to-heart with Stefan after all the Jesse drama and she knew that Stefan was still suffering from post traumatic stress disorder. She wanted to have Stefan try something she thought would help, since killing Silas obviously didn't help. Turning up the music she drove straight to the Boarding House, not stopping for anything.

Stepping out of the car, Caroline ran up to the door of the Boarding House. Instead of knocking, she let herself right on in. "Stefan," she yelled, walking into the house. Closing the door, she walked into the living room, looking for the man in question. Her voice, however, reverberated around the house and betrayed nothing but silence. "What," a voice finally said, coming from behind her. Spinning around with her vampire speed, Caroline slapped Stefan on the chest and exclaimed, "God. Can't you make noise or something. We're going to have to get you a bell."

After her little tirade, Caroline walked away from Stefan and took a seat on the couch, and made herself at home. Stefan followed her to the couch, but stood in the middle of the room, instead of sitting down. Thinking now was the perfect time, Caroline brought up his PTSD. "Stefan. I want to try something that will hopefully help you get over three months of drowning continuously. So I called my mom a few days ago and asked her if she could do me a favor. I asked her if she would bring the safe by today." Stefan, realizing her plan, immediately said, "No." He and began to pace and pull at his hair. "But it might be the only way you can get over this Stefan. I told my mom to bring it by at three." "Please don't Caroline," Stefan begged, finally plopping down in the coach across from Caroline.

Caroline, wanting to change the topic, decided to talk about something else. "Since it's only two now, I wanted to talk to you about Elena." Once the name slipped past her lips, Stefan's head shot up. "What about. Is she hurt. Did Damon do something?" he asked in a concerned voice, moving to stand up. "No nothing's wrong with her," Caroline quickly assured Stefan, "but she isn't the same." "How so?" questioned Stefan, having completely taken his mind off of his PTSD. "Well, you know Jesse right?" she asked, "Well, Elena killed him. That Dr. Wes apparently did something that made him only want to drink vampire blood instead of human blood and he attacked Damon. Elena didn't even think, she just staked him. To save Damon. We promised Jesse that we would help him. The same day Elena killed him. The Elena I knew would have stopped and figured out a way to save Jesse, but ever since she started dating Damon, she's been different."

Caroline finished her tirade and looked at Stefan to find out what he thought. "Caroline, this isn't because Elena's dating Damon. Do you remember how you used to act before you became a vampire?" he asked her. "Yeah," replied Caroline, looking down at her hands, which were lying in her lap. "It's the same thing. You used to be a shallow girl, who rarely thought of others. Now look at yourself. You're strong, helpful, and more caring than ever. You'll always have your bossiness no matter what, though. But that is a characteristic that makes you, you. Elena's the same. She's still caring like she was before she changed, but now she's stronger. She's able to take care of herself and Damon may influence her a little, but she is still Elena." "But Stefan, she didn't even try to help him," she shot back at him.

"Yes, well Damon was threatened, wasn't he. Do you really think that she would let Damon die just so someone she barely knew could live. Besides didn't you say that there was no way to save Jesse, due to the fact that once he got a taste of vampire blood, he would never hunger for human blood again. Plus, if Damon died, Elena would probably turn it off and we'd probably never get her back. Damon was the one who got her to turn it back on the last time she turned it off. I hate that she is dating Damon, that they didn't find me, that after everything, Elena chose Damon over me, but I have to live with it because it makes Elena happy." Caroline looked away from Stefan and thought about what he had just said. A lot of it made sense, and while thinking, time completely got away from her. Before she knew it, it was three and her mom would be arriving soon. True to her thoughts, she soon heard a knock.

**Liz Forbes P.O.V**

This week had been one of the weirdest she's experienced since all the supernatural decided to show up at the same time. Firstly, Caroline had asked her if she could have the safe Stefan had been locked in for three long months. Secondly, she asked if she would bring it by the boarding house at three today. Finally, Damon had sent her an unbelievable message this morning and she hadn't decided if she was going to do as he asked, or tell Elena so she could prevent him from getting too far away from Mystic Falls. This is all Liz could think about on her drive to the Boarding House.

When she finally made it to the Boarding House, she went and knocked on the door to let them know she had arrived, even though they probably already knew, what with their vampire hearing abilities. Her thought was proven correct when Caroline immediately opened the door. "Mom," said person yelled, throwing her arms around her mom, giving her a vampire strength hug. "I missed you too Caroline, but you're crushing me. Seriously, I can't breathe," Liz exclaimed in happiness, knowing that Caroline had missed her while at college. "Now will explain to me why I had to lug this old safe all the way out here," Liz asked her daughter while walking into the house. "There is. I want to use it to see if it will help Stefan overcome his PTSD, since his way obviously didn't help the way he thought it would," Caroline explained to her mother.

Stefan, who had lounged around in the hallway, immediately began to show his unwillingness towards Caroline's idea. "No. Now freaking way. Absolutely not," Stefan began yelling. "There's no other way Stefan. It's not good for you to continue suffering. You have to get past this. The only way for you to get past your fear is to face it. So your going to do this," Caroline told him, like a mother would a child who didn't want to do something. Liz, who had just stood there listening to the conversation the two were having, finally spoke up. "So, I can't stay here forever. I have to get back to work, so we need to get the safe out of the cruiser and put your plan into action soon." "Your right. We need to pick up the pace. I have to be back at the dorms by eight because Elena, Bonnie, and I were planning on doing something, just us girls," Caroline agreed, moving to the door of the house to head out to the police cruiser.

Liz, still confused by the message Damon had sent her decided to get as much information as she could out of both Caroline and Stefan, without telling them Damon had left town, unless she felt they needed to know. "So has anything exciting happened yet during your freshman year?" she questioned. "I wouldn't say exciting, more like tragic," replied Caroline. "Why? What's happened?" Liz asked her daughter with concern in her tone. "Nothing. It's just that I met this guy named Jesse. At first I didn't want anything to do with him because I was still dating Tyler, but then Tyler dumped me at the Monster Ball. Two weeks ago I invited Jesse to a party at the Mystic Falls cemetery. Stefan tried ripping his throat out, back after Tessa wiped his memory, and he was all confused, but I healed Jesse with my blood. I thought everything was good, but then yesterday he called me, voice full of hysterics, asking for my help. I went to his dorm and found him vamped out attacking his roommate. He told me that Dr. Wes Maxfield killed him after he told him that something weird had happened at the party and some kind of blood had healed a fatal wound he had sustained. Then Dr. Wes performed experiments on him for two weeks. Elena and I promised that we would help him, but then Elena killed him." Caroline ended her rant with acid in her voice.

"Well why did she do that," asked Liz. "Probably because Jesse was attacking Damon," she told her mother. "Why was he attacking Damon," questioned Liz. "Apparently Dr. Wes gave him some blood that completely changed his dietary habits. Once he got a taste of vampire blood, he wouldn't be able to get enough. Human blood wouldn't be appetizing at all. Well we kissed last night and he bit my lip and he got a taste of my blood. He didn't attack me, but he left. Elena and I followed him and found him trying to drain Damon of his blood, nearly biting his head off. Before I could do anything to help, Elena staked him. Just to save Damon. Of course Damon didn't care that Jesse was dead. He didn't even bother to come by and tell Elena that you needed his help. He just left. I tried to tell Elena that Damon wasn't boyfriend material. By the way, where is he? I thought he'd be with you." Caroline told her mother. Liz, Caroline, and Stefan had made it to the cruiser and carried the safe into the house all the while Caroline was speaking. Liz, who still hadn't decided if she should tell them about Damon, decided to go with his plan. "I sent him on a little mission of sorts," replied Liz. "Oh." Caroline said.

Carrying the safe into the living room, they set it down in the middle of the floor. "So," Caroline announced, "let's see if this idea of mine will work."

**Stefan's P.O.V**

"This isn't going to work," Stefan exclaimed. "This will only make it worse Caroline." "That's where you're wrong," she replied. "This will show you that you don't have to fear the safe anymore. So, get in," she told him, opening the lid of the safe. He didn't make a move towards the safe, mostly out of fear, and instead looked at Caroline. Seeing Caroline's steely face, Stefan decided to just get it over. Slowly walking towards the safe, Stefan couldn't help but feel the fear he associated with the safe. Finally making it to the safe, Stefan quickly got in.

Lying in the safe, all the bad memories began to come back to him. Caroline, shut the lid, which only increased his fear. Believing to be back in the quarry, Stefan began to fight to get out of the safe. Caroline, who was watching, heard Stefan's struggle, and yelled, "It's not real. You're not in the quarry. You're in the living room of the Boarding House, fight it. Calm down and fight it." Stefan could hear her in the safe, but the paralyzing fear prevented him from doing as she said. He actually lost track of how long he had been in the safe, until Caroline opened the lid and she informed him that what he thought had been hours had actually only been ten minutes. As soon as the lid opened, he moved with vampire speed to get as far away from the safe as possible. Leaving behind a screaming blonde and her mother.

**Sorry I didn't write any Damon torture, but I had to get this posted before the episode airs. So, next chapter, torture will be involved. Be prepared.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5: Torturous Intent**

**All rights reserved by L.J. Smith and the CW Network.**

**The Cell episode was fantastic. Can't wait for Fifty Shades of Grayson next week. Don't mess with Elena. Loved all the reviews that were written. So here's the next chapter.**

**Damon's P.O.V**

Pain. Unimaginable pain. I had almost forgotten what it felt like to be experimented on by this nutcase. The thought that no one was coming to liberate me only made the pain worse. "So 21051 are you glad that Elena or Stefan will never have to experience this, as you call it, torture?" asked Augustine, pushing the knife deeper into his stomach. Damon not wanting to give Augustine the pleasure of getting what he wanted remained quiet. "Playing quiet games are we," Augustine questioned. "Well all right. Do you want to know what procedure we're going to do." He was met with silence. "Today, I am going to research what happens when the lungs are removed from the body." Upon hearing this, Damon closed his eyes and began praying that Elena would realize that Augustine's plan was fake. That she would find him. But then she would be stuck down here with him. Being tortured. Vaughn was right when he said my attachment to my friends would be the end of me. Better to stay quiet and follow the plan so Elena and Stefan stay safe, even if it means extreme torture for me.

The slicing of his stomach finally ended, leaving a vertical line starting at the sternoclavicular joint and ending just below the naval. Blood was spilling from the laceration, which slowly began to heal. "Oh no you don't 21051. I can't have you healing before we're done with the procedure," Augustine piped up. "So to prevent that, I have some handy dandy vervain that I'm going to pour onto your cut." Augustine then proceeded to pour the vervain on Damon. Damon immediately began to scream and yell in pain. The vervain not only kept the wound from healing, but made its way into his internal organs. Amidst the vervain torture, Damon felt Augustine's hands take hold of each flap of skin and began to pull them farther apart. Damon, feeling this began to thrash as much as he could while strapped to the gurney. When Augustine had pulled the skin flaps apart as far as he wanted, he stepped back to admire his work. Damon's sternum, ribs, and internal organs were exposed and vulnerable to anything Augustine wanted to do to them.

Damon, having exhausted what little energy he had, finally finished thrashing and was slowly beginning to lose consciousness, but of course Augustine didn't want him to escape the pain. Walking over to the metal table, he picked up a syringe filled with a solution. Heading back towards Damon, who had slowly lulled his head to the side to see what the psychopathic doctor was doing, he took the syringe and slowly emptied the contents into Damon's bloodstream. "A little adrenaline to keep you awake," Augustine told him.

Damon immediately felt the affects of the adrenaline and went from a drowsy state, almost asleep, to an excited state. With the adrenaline rush, he was able to forget about the pain he was feeling, but only for a minute. Just in time to experience the next part of the process. While Damon had experienced the affects of the adrenaline, Augustine replaced the now empty syringe back on the steel metal table and picked up a hammer. "Guess what I'm going to use this for," Augustine said, walking back the gurney. "Are you going to try to knock some sense into yourself," replied Damon with a smirk on his face. "Alas no. I'm going to use this to break your ribs and sternum apart so I can cut your lungs out," Augustine told Damon. "Let's get cracking. Oops sorry, bad pun." Taking the hammer, he raised it and quickly brought it down. The top left rib cracked and broke away from the sternum. Feeling this, Damon yelled out in agony. "Nineteen more to go 21051," Augustine exclaimed. Upon hearing this Damon mentally prepared himself. 2, 3, 4, 7, 10, 14, 16, 18, 20. The twentieth rib finally broke away from the sternum.

Damon opened his eyes. The rib cracking may be over, but his eyes were glazed with extreme pain. He could feel it every time he took a breath. Damon already wished that the torture was over, and it was only the first day of his capture. That thought only increased when he felt Augustine's hand enter his chest and begin to pull out his sternum so he would have access to the lungs. The pain of having his sternum ripped from his chest was pure torture. Screams escaped his throat and his body thrashed on the gurney. While the rib cracking had been painful, it had also been quick. The sternum, though, required a bit of tugging and pulling to remove it from his chest, and with every pull or tug, the already cracked ribs were jostled. The ribs that still remained attached to the sternum were also broken apart. Finally the sternum pulled free from his chest.

The pain was extraordinary, but the calm always comes after the storm. The pain stopped for a minute after Augustine's hand pulled the chest bone out of his body. Laying absolutely still, the pain seemed to disappear. That is until Augustine walked back to the gurney, this time steering the metal cart over as well. The big bowl filled with saline solution made his heart began to beat erratically, knowing that Augustine's finale was coming closer. "So 21051, the part I have been waiting for this entire time. I'm going to cut your lungs out and study them. Have fun growing them back, along with your sternum," Augustine informed him. "Anything you want to say while you have the air, can speak," he asked. "Ya. Go to hell," said Damon, with a look of pain mixed with fury. "I probably will, but I'll save you a spot," Augustine replied while aggressively pushing his hand into Damon's chest, grabbing a hold of Damon's trachea, where the right and left bronchioles branch off. Holding the trachea with his left hand, Augustine picked up the scalpel with his right hand and lowered it to the trachea. Damon closed his eyes and prepared to continuously die for however long it took to grow his lungs back.

The scalpel began to cut the lungs out of his body. One slice didn't do the job, however, but took many slices. During this time, Damon was thrashing and screaming, which soon began to end after every slice. Losing oxygen, Damon lost the ability to scream or make any noise. Finally Augustine made the last cut and the lungs were separated from the trachea. Damon suffocated to death, but not before he saw his lungs being held in the air by the crazy Augustine.

**Augustine's P.O.V**

Augustine saw 21051 stop breathing, die, and continued what he was doing, which was placing 21051's lungs in the bowl of saline solution. Knowing that he wouldn't get anymore enjoyment from experimenting on 21051, he pulled out his cell phone and called Wes. When Wes answered, he told him to send the two helpers, who had brought 21051 to his lab, so they could take him back to his cell. He also told Wes to come by when he was able. While waiting for the helpers, he quickly cleaned the lab and equipment. The gurney would have to be cleaned after the helpers took his body back to the cell. While waiting for the helpers, he took Damon's lungs and placed them in the mini refrigerator to preserve them, that way he could study them later.

A noise made him look up. It was the two helpers. He motioned for them to take 21051's body back to his cell. The two helpers wrapped the body in a blanket to prevent any of the blood from getting on them. They then proceeded to pick up the body and make their way towards the cells. Now that the gurney was clear, he cleaned up all of the blood that had seeped out of 21051. After cleaning the gurney, Augustine sat down at his desk in the corner of the room, and wrote down all of the observations he had made about 21051 while he had performed his medical advancements.

Wes finally made it to Augustine's lab about two and a half hours after the helpers had taken 21051's body back to the cells. "Wes, I'd like to talk about the plan. You sent the message to Sheriff Forbes. Is she going along with it?" "As far as I know. I haven't received any texts or calls from an angry girlfriend or a concerned brother, so I think Liz is going along with what 'Damon' asked of her, which means Elena, Stefan, Bonnie, and Caroline are unaware that Damon is even gone," Wes informed Augustine, making his way to the desk. "Well, I believe that we need to bring Damon into the plan soon. Of course it will have to wait a few days on his part since he isn't able to make noise right now.

Until then, I want you to go through Damon's phone and find a picture that has Damon and Elena in it. Send it to Andy so he can Photoshop it to make it look like he's definitely moved on. When he's finished Photoshopping the picture send it to Elena. Let's see if we turn all of his loved ones against him. Make them hate him. Forget about him. That way Damon will have no one to escape to," Augustine told Wes continuing to write his observations down. "Okay, but what do I do if one of them comes asking about him. I was the last person who saw him and they know that," Wes questioned. "You told Elena in that message that Damon supposedly compelled you to forget about everything supernatural, didn't you?" Augustine answered Wes's question with another question. "Yes, but what if they don't believe me and they bleed me of vervain so they can compel me to answer their questions honestly," Wes replied. "Well then you had better where vervain as well as ingest it. But know this, if Damon escapes from me, then I will hold you responsible and make you regret it. Do I make myself clear," Augustine asked, looking in Wes's eyes, making sure he understood he wasn't joking. "Crystal," he said. Wes began to leave the lab, but stopped when Augustine said, "Make sure to leave Elena and Caroline alone, otherwise Damon will end up being rescued. And tell Aaron who he really is." Wes nodded and continued walking out of the lab.

**Elena's P.O.V**

Class had ended a few hours ago and she had absolutely nothing to do. Bonnie was still in class and Caroline had went back to Mystic Falls to help Stefan get over his PTSD. So she decided that she would hang with Aaron and see if she could find out any information about Wes's projects. Walking from her class to her dorm, she pulled out her cell phone and sent Aaron a message saying, '_Do you want to hang out today?_'. She made it to her dorm and her phone buzzed. She opened the message and read what Aaron had sent her. He said, '_Sorry, can't. Uncle Wes wants to do some Uncle/Nephew bonding today and I can't get out of it. Maybe we can do it tomorrow?_'. Feeling annoyed that everyone was busy, she sent back '_Sure_'. Throwing her bags onto the chair, she collapsed onto her bed and closed her eyes. She couldn't text Damon and see if he wanted to spend time with her because he was currently in Mystic Falls helping Liz with something, so he was out of the question. Jeremy was at school, and besides, Jeremy would probably want to hang out with Bonnie instead of her. Feeling lonely, Elena decided that she would work on homework since she had nothing better to do.

A few hours later Elena was awakened by the door of her room slamming shut. "Bonnie?' she said. "Oh. Sorry. I'm in a bit of a rush. Jeremy and I have plans for tonight," Bonnie replied throwing her things down and moving to change clothes for her date with Jeremy. "What about our girls night?" Elena asked her, moving from the bed to stand. "Oh my gosh. I completely forgot. Jeremy's almost here, though. I can't cancel it. I'm sorry Elena," Bonnie told her. It's okay. I know how much Jeremy missed you when you were…gone. I'm glad you guys are together," Elena responded, moving to gather her supplies for a shower. Her phone, which was sitting on the desk went off. "Who is it," Bonnie asked adding the final touches to her outfit and makeup. "Caroline," Elena told her looking at the message. "She says that she isn't coming back tonight because she's staying home and spending time with her mom. So I guess it's okay that you and Jeremy are having your date, since Caroline wouldn't have been here anyway." As soon as she said that, a knock on the door told them that Jeremy was her. "Do I look good?" questioned Bonnie. "You look great," she said opening the door to let Jeremy in. Jeremy walking through the door and automatically gave Elena a hug. "Hey," he said. "Hey," she replied. "Are you ready to go Bonnie," Jeremy asked, moving towards the door. "Ya. Just let me grab my purse,' she replied. Elena opened the door and told them to have fun. They said good bye and she closed and locked the door. Placing her phone on the desk, she made her way to the bathroom to take a long, hot shower since there was nothing better to do. Maybe she would try and convince Damon to come and see her, regardless of what Liz has him doing.

**Wow. Took a while to write this chapter. Episode 5x09 was super exciting and I recommend watching it if you missed it. By the way, I loooooove reviews. They make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside to know that my writing is actually good, and not horrible.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

**All rights reserved by L.J. Smith and the CW Network.**

**Here's the next chapter.**

**Elena's P.O.V (Next Day)**

RING. RING. RING. RING. " Damon here. Don't leave a message after the beep, unless it's Elena." Pulling the phone from her hear, Elena let out a sigh. What was Damon doing that prevented him from answering her calls. She was beginning to worry about him. It wasn't like Damon to ignore her calls. Trying again, she listened to the ringing, waiting to hear Damon's voice. It went to voice-mail again. Throwing her phone on her bed, Elena began to pace the room, her worry for Damon only increasing.

Her pacing came to a halt when the door opened, Bonnie walking through the door. "Hey Bonnie. How was your date?" Elena asked, moving to the little refrigerator to grab a blood bag. "It was great. We went out to dinner and then we went to a hote…..sorry Elena," Bonnie told her, walking into the room and moving to put her purse away. "It's fine. It really doesn't bother me Bonnie. What's bothering me is Damon isn't answering any of my calls or texts. I know he said he was helping Liz with something, but what's preventing him from answering his phone," Elena ranted, tossing clothes around the room, trying to decide what she wanted to wear for the day. "Maybe he has no signal and can't answer your calls. Just give him a few days. I'm sure that he has a good reason for not answering or returning your calls," Bonnie said trying to placate her friend, hoping that Damon hadn't actually done anything to hurt Elena. "Your right and I'll call Liz to see if she can tell me any more about what she has Damon doing and where he's at," Elena compromised. "Okay. While you do that, I'll just a shower and get refreshed for the day," Bonnie said, grabbing her shower supplies and heading to the bathroom.

Walking to her bed, she grabbed the phone she had thrown earlier and scrolled through her contacts to find Liz's number. Finding it, she hit call. On the third ring, Liz answered. "Elena is something wrong?," she asked, concern in her voice. "No. Nothing's wrong. It's just, I'm a little concerned about Damon. He hasn't been returning any of my calls and I just wanted to make sure that he was okay," Elena told Liz, praying that there was nothing wrong with him. "Elena, there's something I need to tell you," Liz said with a quiet, almost hurt, voice. "What is it? Is Damon hurt?" she said, fear creeping into her voice. "Elena, Damon left town, for good. He isn't coming back," Liz told her. She knew that Elena was going to have a break down after she had told her. "You're lying. Damon would never leave. He finally had me. He wouldn't do this. I don't believe you," Elena told Liz, quickly falling into hysterics. "Elena, he sent me a message saying that he was done with life in Mystic Falls. That you played a big part in his leaving. He also said that you were destined to be with Stefan, which meant that you would never truly love him and he love you so much. That being around you and Stefan would be too painful. Elena I don't think he was thinking straight when he decided all of this." Liz told Elena, feeling bad for Elena. "Look Elena, I have to go." she said. "Wait. Liz. Please say this was all just a mean joke. Damon wouldn't leave," Elena asked crying and freaking out. "I'm sorry Elena. We can talk later if you want," Liz told her and then hung up. Elena closed her eyes and began pulling at her hair, bawling her eyes out.

Bonnie hearing the noise, quickly dressed and rushed out of the bathroom. "Elena. What's wrong? What happened?" she questioned. Nothing she said, however, made it through to Elena. Resolving to help her friend no matter what, she got down next to Elena and wrapped herself around her friend, hoping to comfort her. "Elena, whatever it is, you'll make it through it. Just tell me what happened," she said. "He…left….me," Elena got out between sobs. "Who did," Bonnie asked, moving back a little so she could look her friend in the eyes. "Damon," she replied. "What," Caroline exclaimed. Elena and Bonnie look up to see her standing in the doorway, holding her bags. "Damon left me. I called your mom and asked if she had seen him because he hadn't been answering any of my calls and she said that he left Mystic Falls. Because of me," Elena replied, bursting into more sobs. "I told you that Damon wasn't boyfriend material. All he probably wanted was to sleep with you and then leave, because, as I've said before, he's a giant man slut," Caroline ranted, walking over to the two girls huddled next to each other.

Caroline's words only made Elena more upset and finally Bonnie said, "Caroline. Shut up. If you haven't noticed, everything you say is only upsetting Elena more." Upon seeing this, Caroline kneeled down next to the two girls and threw her arms around them and told Elena that she was sorry. "It's okay," replied Elena. "If Damon did this then it obviously means he didn't ever love me and he was just using me. If he wants me to forget about me then I guess I'll return the favor." "Don't you think that's a little extreme," asked Bonnie. "I mean what if he was forced to leave. To protect you." "Well there's no way to know for sure because he won't answer any of my calls and there's no way to find out where he is since you can't do a tracking spell anymore," Elena responded., breaking away from the two caring friends, and standing up and walking across the room." "Look Elena, we'll figure something out. For now though, let's just do something together to take your mind off of Damon," Caroline told her. "We can do some mani-pedi's or do each other's hair, but we aren't going to talk about boys at all." "I don't think that's going to help her any," Bonnie whispered to Caroline. Elena, who could hear Bonnie said, "It probably won't help much, but it will be nice just hanging with the two of you. I can't remember the last time we had a girls night where nothing went wrong. And I will do my best to forget everything Damon, since apparently he can't bear to be around me because I'm supposed to be with Stefan," Elena told them, drying her eyes and trying to make her face less blotchy. "Okay. As long as you are going to be alright," agreed Caroline and Bonnie.

**Caroline's P.O.V**

Staying with my mom had been just what she needed after Jesse's death. Plus she was a little homesick. She had spent time with her mom and then slept in her old bed. She left for Whitmore College the next day, telling Stefan she would be back in a few days to continue helping him get over his PTSD. She couldn't stay today because she had class at two and she had a three-hour drive back to the college. Stefan understood, and was most likely secretly glad that she wouldn't be forcing him to stay locked in the safe for a few days. Yesterday hadn't been much of a success because Stefan had run off as soon as she opened the door of the safe and hadn't been seen for the rest of the day.

When she made it to the college, she quickly made her way towards her dorm, wanting to see her two best friends. For some reason she was super happy, but of course that changed when she opened the door and heard Elena telling Bonnie that Damon had left her. Of course she couldn't help but exclaim "What" in disbelief. She couldn't help but to begin thinking about what a horrible person was, even after he got what he wanted, which was Elena. Though she was a little confused to why he would just leave without telling Elena, or anyone for that matter. While thinking this, Elena and Bonnie filled her in on how they found out that Damon had left. After hearing that her mom knew Damon left before anyone, and had actually lied to her face when she asked where he was, left her reeling. She hated Damon more and more as the minutes went by felt horrible for Elena. Seeing that Elena was truly hurt, Caroline decided that a girls night would be the best for all of them. Bonnie and Elena agreed with what she said, though she felt that it wasn't good for Elena to just forget about Damon. Caroline promised herself then and there that she would stake Damon herself the next time she saw him for hurting her best friend. She still couldn't believe that he had just up and left without saying anything, though.

After making plans for tonight with Bonnie and Elena, she got ready for her class. She would wait and call Stefan to let him know what his brother had done to Elena when she was walking to class. Perhaps Stelena would still happen. Finished getting ready for class, she grabbed her bags and said bye to her friends. Bonnie was working on some last-minute homework, as was Elena, though the emotions radiating from the two girls were completely different. Bonnie was sad for her friend and Elena was still distraught, despite the fact that she didn't show it.

Walking out the door, she grabbed her cell phone out of her purse and dialed Stefan's number. "Hello," he answered. "Stefan, you are never going believe what that monster of a brother has done. He left Elena," Caroline yelled into the cell phone so loud that Stefan actually had to move the phone away from his ear. "What do you mean that he left," he questioned, disbelief in his voice. "I mean that Damon just left Mystic Falls. He sent my mom a text saying that he was done with life in Mystic Falls and that he bear to be around you and Elena, because apparently it was only a matter of time before Elena told him that she never loved him, that she only loved you, or something. Elena is in hysterics because he just left her. She believes that since he can just up and leave her, then she can just forget about him and move on," she explained to Stefan. "Look who was the last person to see Damon," Stefan asked her, probably trying to figure out why Damon had left. "I think it was Dr. Maxfield. Damon had spent the day torturing him to get information and after Elena prevented Jesse from killing him, he went back to Wes's lab to let him go. He texted Elena that night saying he had compelled Wes to forget about everything supernatural and he hadn't come by to say goodbye because he had said that my mom had texted him needing my help. My mom didn't really need his help, though. In fact, he only told my mom that he was leaving, and she kept it a secret for like a day. I just want to stake him right now Stefan," Caroline finally finished.

"Well I think the first thing you need to do is go and question that Wes guy because you told me that he was the one who experimented on Jesse right. Maybe he somehow captured Damon and used his phone to send these messages," Stefan thought out loud. "How would he capture Damon. Wes is a human and Damon's a 171 year old vampire," Caroline replied, while simultaneously walking into her classroom. She had about five minutes before class would start. "Look Caroline, I'm just saying that he might be responsible. I'm going to drive down and we can check it out tonight," Stefan told her. "Tonight? But we were going to have a girls night to help Elena get over this," she said talking her seat. "Well she won't need to get over anything if this Wes guy is actually responsible for everything, now will she. I'll be there in a few hours. Tell Elena and Bonnie what were doing. Bye," Stefan told her. "Fine," she gave in. Pressing end, she wrote two quick texts to send to Bonnie and Elena about the plan change. Class began as soon as she pressed send and was forced to put up her phone, or risk having it taken.

**Bonnie's P.O.V**

"Hey Elena, did you get a text from Caroline," Bonnie asked her, closing the books she had been doing homework in. She received no answer. Looking up, she saw Elena staring off into space. "Elena," she tried again. This time Elena heard her and looked up. "What," Elena said. Her face was still blotchy and it looked like she had cried again. "I said, did you get a message from Caroline," Bonnie replied, getting up from her bed and moving to sit next to Elena on her bed. Picking up her phone, Elena saw that she a message from Elena. Opening it, she read what Caroline had written and then looked at Bonnie. "I thought that we were going to get over Damon, not go looking for someone who doesn't want to be found," Elena said. "Didn't you pay attention Elena. Wes may be experimenting on Damon. He was the last one to see Damon, so maybe he captured him and took his cell phone," Bonnie responded.

"Stefan will be here in a few hours and we're going to go check out his theory. If Wes doesn't know anything than Damon really has left town. But you owe it to Damon to make sure that he isn't in trouble. He hasn't ever let you down, so don't let him down," she continued. Bonnie may not have like Damon, in fact she hated him more often than not, but he had begun to prove himself a better person. She still couldn't stand the way he acts, but she knew that he truly loved Elena. The only thing that would make him leave would be if her life depended on it. "Your right. What if he's being experimented on like Jesse and I've been sitting here thinking horrible thoughts about him. Bonnie I need something that will make the next few hours pass by quickly. I need to know if Damon's alright," she said moving from the bed and grabbing some clean clothes, wanting to feel clean and refreshed after all the crying and feeling bad for herself. "Elena we have to wait until later. You know when Caroline and Stefan get here. Then we'll go and question Wes and see if he's responsible for all of this. Okay," Bonnie asked Elena, moving off of Elena's bed and moving to pick up her books so she could finish the last parts of her homework. "Okay," Elena agreed, sitting back down on her own bed, also pulling her books towards her that she put off doing the day before. She

**Woo. Another chapter. Can't wait until Thursday. Super sad that it's the mid-season finale though. It's probably going to have a cliff hanger that leaves us wanting more.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7: The Revelation**

**All rights reserved by L.J. Smith and the CW Network.**

**OMG!? WHY JULIE PLEC WHYYYYYYY!? HOW COULD YOU BREAK UP THE BEST COUPLE ON TVD!? (said with hands and face pointed towards the sky). Can't wait until January 23****rd****. Kind of conflicted, though, on whether Katherine should die or not.**

**After seeing that rant you could probably care less about, here's the reason you're here.**

**Stefan's P.O.V**

This day had gone oh so well, especially since Caroline had left early this morning, meaning she wasn't there to lock him in the safe. He had planned to head into town and stop by the Grill and chat with Matt until Caroline called. Though he didn't show it, Caroline's news had shaken him. Damon wouldn't just leave Elena. He had worked for almost three years to gain Elena's love. Something would have to have made Damon leave. He may hate that Elena chose his brother over him, but he knew that Damon truly loved Elena and would do anything for her, even die. Talking this Dr. Wes Maxfield was the only way to prove whether Damon has truly left Mystic Falls and everyone in it willingly, or if something terrible has befallen him. He also wanted to prove that he was better than both Elena and Damon, in regards to finding someone who needs true help.

Arriving at Whitmore College, Stefan quickly made his way towards Caroline's dorm, hoping that everyone was ready to carry out the plan. Upon reaching the dorm, Stefan knocked to alert the girls of his presence, though Elena and Caroline would have known he was there before he even knocked. So knocking was more for Bonnie's sake, as well as propriety, rather than necessity. Not even a second after he knocked, Caroline was opening the door and pulling him into the room. "So, we are almost ready to go. I'm just putting away all of my books and homework from my class. I got back not ten minutes ago. I tried to get some of my homework done while waiting for you to get here, but now that you're here, we can go question Wes," she yammered while putting the last of her books away. Looking at the two other girls in the room, Stefan saw that Elena's face was red and blotchy, probably from all the crying, and Bonnie had her arms around Elena and was silently comforting her. Finally speaking, Stefan said, "So, someone's going to have to lead the way since I have no idea who he is or where he teaches at." "Right," replied Caroline, grabbing her phone off of the nightstand and heading out the door. Bonnie and Elena followed Caroline out the door and Stefan fell into step, silently allowing them to lead the way.

After walking across campus, the group of four finally made it to their destination. Peering through the window, they saw that Wes was nowhere to be seen. Stefan looked at the three girls and asked, "If he's not here, where would else could he be." Elena, for the first time, spoke up and informed Stefan, "He's probably at his lab. It's where he experimented on Jesse and Damon tried to get information out of him. That's the last place I saw Damon too." "Then that's where we need to go," Stefan told them, motioning for them to, again, lead the way. Wes's lab was not to far from his classroom, but Stefan could tell that none of this wandering around like chickens with their heads cut off was helping his brother, that is if he actually needed it. Looking through the window pane of the door, Stefan could see Wes working at his desk. Turning the knob, he found the door locked, but with a little vampire strength, he quickly broke the lock and barged in.

Wes heard the noise and jumped out of his seat, simultaneously looking at the door. Wes showed only a little alarm upon seeing the four. "Elena, Caroline, Bonnie, what are you doing here? How did you get in? The door was locked," exclaimed Wes. Elena, finding her anger, used her vampire speed and strength to grab Wes and slam him against the far wall. Holding him four inches off the ground, Elena locked eyes with Wes and, barely containing her anger, compelled, "What have you done with Damon? You were the last one to see him. Damon wouldn't just leave me. Where is he?" Hardly able to breathe let alone speak, Wes choked out, "I don't know any Damon." Stefan, seeing Elena's rage begin to weaken, walked over and led her to Bonnie and Caroline. "How did you do that? I'm larger than you. There's no way you should have been able to lift me off of the floor? And who are you," Wes questioned, addressing the last question towards Stefan. "My names Stefan. What do you do here, by the way?" Stefan responded. "I teach microbiology and study diseases," Wes answered. "And you never answered any of my other questions. How did she just do that?" "I knew this wouldn't work," piped up Elena. "Damon told me that he compelled him to forget anything supernatural. Damon really has left." Upon saying this, Elena fled from the room. Bonnie followed after her.

Stefan, seeing that Wes didn't seem to know anything, looked at Caroline and asked her opinion. "Maybe he's wearing vervain. He would have made sure to have vervain in or on him, especially if he knew we would come looking for Damon," she said, walking closer to Stefan and Wes. "Well the only thing that we could do to prove that he's not wearing any would be to strip him naked, and I'm not a big fan," Stefan told her. "I agree with Stefan," Wes spoke up. "Well then I guess we'll just have to take him with us," Stefan said. Before Wes could comprehend he had said, Stefan knocked him out. "Stefan. What are you doing? We can't take him with us. People will notice he's gone," Caroline countered. "It was your idea that he may be wearing vervain. Let's talk about this later. Right now, let's hurry and get back to your dorm, before someone sees us kidnapping him," Stefan responded, picking Wes's limp body up and vamp sped back to the dorm room. Caroline reluctantly followed.

**Elena's P.O.V**

Interrogating Wes had been pointless. After fleeing the lab, she ran back to her room to cry. This had been her only chance to discover whether Damon was being tortured, in some unknown place, or had left her. Before Stefan had mentioned the idea that Wes could be torturing him, like he tortured Jesse, it had been easy for her to channel all of her emotions into anger. Know, though, she was unable to decide what really happened. It hurt not knowing. Bonnie ran in a few minutes after she collapsed on the bed and immediately moved towards her. Elena didn't want to talk to anyone, but that didn't seem to deter Bonnie. "It's okay Elena. Stefan and Caroline will think of something. I don't believe that he would just leave you. Something must have happened, and we will find him Elena. I just know it. But you have to help," Bonnie told her. "How can I Bonnie. We have no leads and both situations are terrible," Elena sobbed. "I know, Elena, I know. The bright side is I haven't seen him yet, so he isn't dead," Bonnie tried to reassure her. It did little to comfort her though. They sat in silence for the next ten minutes or so.

That silence was broken when the door slammed open, revealing Stefan, who was carrying a limp Wes, and a worried blonde following behind him. When Elena saw who Stefan was carrying, Elena jumped from her bed and demanded what they were thinking when they decided to bring him here. "Well, Elena, after you stormed out, I had the idea that maybe he was wearing vervain and not telling the truth. So Stefan here decided that he needed to come with us," Caroline explained to Elena. After hearing Caroline's explanation, she felt even worse, due to the fact that she hadn't even thought about that. "What are we going to do with him," Bonnie questioned "Well first we need to wake him up," Stefan told them, grabbing a chair and plopping the unconscious man into it. "Do any of you anything that we could tie him up with," Stefan added. "Ya, here," Caroline responded, handing Stefan a scarf. Stefan looked at her for a second, but didn't say anything, and then continued tying to the chair. Having completed the task, he was suddenly pushed out of Elena's way. Elena, feeling that it was completely necessary, slapped the man until he was awake. Bonnie, Caroline, and Stefan didn't think that Wes needed to be woken up by Elena slapping him, but felt that it would be safer if they stayed out of Elena's warpath.

Eventually Wes woke up, but most likely wanted to pass out again after he opened his eyes and saw who was surrounding him. "Huh. What. Where am I?" questioned Wes, eyes glancing every which way. "We brought you here so that we can make sure you are telling us the truth, because we don't think you are. So Caroline check his pockets," Stefan responded. "Why are we checking his pockets again," Bonnie spoke up. "Because if he did capture Damon, then he'll have his phone. If he has Damon's phone then we can figure out where Damon is being kept," Stefan explained. That being a plausible reason, Caroline moved to check Wes's pockets. The closer Caroline got to Wes, the more nervous he got. "What's wrong Wes. Afraid of what we're going to do to you if we find Damon's phone in your pocket," Elena spat, moving closer to Wes. Watching Caroline do what she was asked, she couldn't help but plan all the ways she could get the information out of him. Jeez, she thought to herself, being around Damon sure is changing me. Caroline checked the both front pockets, but only found Wes's own cell phone. "He doesn't have it," Caroline exclaimed, standing up and moving away from the tied up man. "But you didn't check his back pockets," Stefan pointed out. "Well, I kind of can't reach them, now can I," responded Caroline.

Elena, thinking of an idea, pulled her phone out and called Damon's number. After two rings, she heard it. Damon's ring tone. Moving as fast as the blink of an eye, Elena had her hands around Wes's throat. Just like in his lab, Wes was barely able to breathe. "Where is he. You have five seconds to tell me where he is, or I'm going to be performing some of my own experiments on you," she screamed at him. Stefan, Caroline, and Bonnie could only stare at Elena, never having seen Elena act this way, even when her emotions were turned off. "Five, four, three, two….," Elena began to count down and with every number she said, she increased the pressure on his neck. Before she reached one, however, Wes, whose face was turning blue, choked out, "Stop. I'll tell you where he is, just let me go." Hearing this, Elena gave one last squeeze and let him go. "Start talking or I'll get the information out of you by force," she told him.

"If I tell you, I'm signing my death warrant, so you have to help me in return," Wes told the room. "What do you mean you're signing your own death warrant," asked Bonnie, with a look of confusion on her face. "Augustine told me that if Damon escapes again, then I'll be the one held responsible. He's still sore that Damon escaped from him in the fifties," Wes explained. "What," exclaimed the three girls in the room. "What are you talking about?" Stefan questioned for the three of them.. "Damon was fine in the fifties." "And how would you now Stefan. You didn't see Damon again until the what, nineties. How would you now if he was a subject here or not. I would be glad to share his file with you one day. I must warn you though, it isn't very pretty," Wes fired back at the shocked brother. Stefan fell silent after Wes told him the truth.

Elena, who was still surprised at this ghost of Damon's past, suddenly became tired of Wes's know better than though attitude, began to walk slowly towards him. Wes noticed her and blurted out, "Augustine's keeping him in the basement in the older part of the building." "All right, than that's where were going. I suggest if you want our help than you had better do everything we say, which includes leading the way," Elena told him, moving to untie him from the chair. "And don't forget, if you're lying to us, than I get to try my hand at torture." Elena turned towards the three other people in the room and said, "Let's go save Damon." She motioned for Wes to lead the way, and followed him out the door. Stefan, Bonnie, and Caroline all shared a look that collectively said, "Oh my gosh." They then turned to follow Wes and Elena.

**Damon's P.O.V**

Breathing. Such a normal bodily function. You won't notice it until it's gone. Damon was able to experience these thoughts first hand. He could also appreciate what Stefan went through for three months straight, while stuck at the bottom of the quarry, unable to escape the safe. Every few hours, Damon would jerk awake, only to suffocate to death all over again. The pain of suffocating to death was horrible. With no real lungs, it was a much quicker death than it would have be had he a pair of lungs. His lungs would take at least a week to three-weeks to completely heal, seeing as he was weak from vervain and was only given a cup of blood a day. He knew that wouldn't deter Augustine any, and he would most likely be back on that medical gurney in a short whole.

Stuck in the dark and dreary cell, Damon was unable to tell how long it had been since his lungs had been cut out, but he guessed that a day must have passed. Elena was his only hope, and that hope was decreasing daily. If she did come for him, than she would become a lab rat just like him. Jerking awake, for like the tenth time, he heard a noise. As he began to lose consciousness, he saw Augustine opening his cell door. The last thing he saw was Augustine's spiteful smile.

**I loooooove reviews. So please, leave me one telling me if I should add or extract certain parts of the story, or what you loved about it. Heck, you can even talk about the latest TVD episode or the preview for January 23****rd****. We can start a conversation about it. Thanks everyone!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8: Searching for the Crow  
**

**All rights reserved by L.J. Smith and the CW Network.**

**Finally, the next chapter. Sorry for taking so long.**

**Augustine's P.O.V (Day after lung removal)**

Approaching 21051's cell, he could hear the sound of gasping. He couldn't help but smile in a vindictive way thinking about what medical advancement he had in store for 21051 next. Thinking of something that would top removing his lungs had not been easy, but finally he had thought of something. Taking the key from his pocket, Augustine opened the doors to the weakened vampire's cell. He looked up to see a pair of blue eyes, barely open, staring at him, before the two orbs rolled back into their owners head. Grinning even wider, he walked up to the body and said, "Oh, 21051, I couldn't pass up the chance to see you suffering in your cell, so I came and got you instead of having those two brainless helpers do it. Plus it's time to start another one of my medical advancements." It didn't matter that 21051 couldn't hear him, he just liked voicing these thoughts to the unconscious body. Deciding that he had wasted plenty of his valuable time, Augustine crouched down and proceeded to sling the still man over his shoulder and carry him to the lab.

Arriving at his lab, Augustine lay 21051 down on the medical gurney and began to strap him down to prevent any escape attempts during the procedure. Pulling his cell phone out, he called Wes to see if everything was going as planned. After three rings, Wes finally picked up. '_Wes, what took you so long to answer your phone and why do you sound so out of breath_,' Augustine asked, starting to become worried that Wes had already screwed everything up. '_Sorry, I couldn't find my phone and I'm breathless because I'm rushing to get to my class. I got caught up in the lab and didn't pay attention to the time_,' Wes responded. '_Yes, well, I need you to come by the lab after your class. I want you to see all the medical advancements 21051 has helped me make_,' Augustine told him. Before Wes could tell him his answer, he heard a noise, almost like a gasp, coming from Wes's end. '_Is there someone there with you_,' he asked Wes. '_Yeah. A student just caught up with me. She probably needs some help on her homework. I'll be by as soon as my class is over_,' Wes explained to the suspicious doctor. He then hung up. Augustine, still suspicious, decided to forget about it for now, so he could begin experimenting on 21051.

While he had been on the phone with Wes, he had gathered all the supplies that he would need for the procedure and placed them on a medical cart. Wheeling, the cart next to the unconscious body, Augustine couldn't help but wish that 21051 would be awake during the procedure, experiencing what he deserves. Picking up the scalpel, he brought it down to the barely healed wound already on 21051's chest and began to reopen it. After slicing from the clavicles down to the umbilicus, he again pulled the two flaps of skin apart and applied surgical clamps to both, to prevent the skin flaps from being in his way. The procedure that he was performing was similar to that of the lung procedure, but would answer so many questions, questions such as, what is the make up of a heart of a vampire and how it functions.

Looking into 21051's open chest, he saw that the broken, dislocated ribs had barely re-grown since the day before. Seeing this actually made him feel quite sad. He had hoped to increase the pain 21051 was experiencing by completely re-breaking the ribs, but instead he would only have to break a few areas that had managed to grow back, therefore blocking his path to the heart below. The lungs had not had enough time to grow back either so he had a straight path to 21051's heart. The heart, at this time, was stopped, still. He couldn't wait for 21051 to wake up again and see what was being done to him this time around. The initial panic would be associated with thrashing, which would only cause him to cut deeper and harder, causing unbearable pain, or he would suffocate to death. Again.

Lowering the knife into 21051's chest, he made contact with the heart. Before he could begin cutting though, the heart started to beat. Moving his eyes up to look at the 21051's face, he saw that his eyes were flickering open. He began turning his head in different directions to discern where he was at. Upon realization of where he was at, he began to thrash, which only increased the rate at which he was suffocating, hence no lungs. He did, however, register what Augustine was doing while he suffocated to death, and could feel the horrible pain. Augustine, after seeing 21051's alertness, made the first cut. 21051, unable to voice his pain, could only thrash weakly and show his pain through his facial features. His eyes tightly closed, his face was scrunched, and we was paler than a long dead corpse. This entire spectacle lasted for about ten seconds, at which Damon became still, signifying his death.

Augustine, disappointed that 21051 had not experienced the full heart surgery, couldn't wait for him to wake up again and decided that he would drag out this experiment for as long as he possibly could. This would allow 21051 a chance to experience the experiment to its full extent. That wouldn't keep him from experimenting, though.

**Caroline's P.O.V**

Today just keeps getting better and better, Caroline sarcastically thought to herself. This morning had actually been perfect. She was able to have breakfast with her mom, which in itself is rare, and she had had a relaxing drive back to Whitmore College, filled with off-key singing and dancing in her seat to her favorite songs. However, her day took a turn for the worse when she opened the door to her dorm room and heard what Elena and Bonnie were saying. She couldn't help but feel a bit smug that she had been right all along about her belief that Damon was not in fact good boyfriend material. That still didn't change the fact that Elena really loved him and she would support Elena in her decisions, regardless of whether she agreed with them or not because they were best friends. The thought that had hit her next, though, had brightened her day substantially. Now that Damon had skipped town and broken Elena's heart, she could get Stefan and Elena back together, who was her true epic love. That plan was thrown to the dogs when she called Stefan. Instead of trying to capitalize and getting back with Elena, he wanted to go looking for Damon, something said person hadn't done for Stefan. The turning point of the day was when they interrogated Dr. Maxfield.

Interrogating Dr. Maxfield had actually made her change her views on Damon, which she hated. Feeling bad for him was not something that she wasn't to do, but the idea that someone could actually torture another living being, just because they were different, was horrible. All the horrible thoughts she's ever had towards him, lessened. They didn't completely disappear though. She could understand that nearly a decade of continuous torture at the hands of a sick sadist would drive anyone crazy. Maybe that's why he acts before he thinks, because of what was continuously done to him in the fifties. Now we were being drug on a wild goose chase by Wes, who turned out to be a sick sadist since he experimented on Jesse, to the place where Damon was supposedly being held and tortured. It had also been a site to see when Elena forced him to tell them where Damon was and what was being done to him.

While following Wes to the older part of the building, his cell phone rang. Wes took it out of his pocket and looked at the caller id and began to press reject. Elena stopped him before he could do that and instead hit the answer button, motioning for him talk or there would be consequences. Everyone but Bonnie heard the disembodied voice of the other man saying '_Wes, what took you so long to answer your phone and why do you sound so out of breath_.' Caroline watched as Elena silently told him to make up an excuse that would placate Augustine and not make him suspicious. Quickly making up an excuse, Wes said, '_Sorry, I couldn't find my phone and I'm breathless because I'm rushing to get to my class. I got caught up in the lab and didn't pay attention to the time_.' '_Yes, well, I need you to come by the lab after your class. I want you to see all the medical advancements 21051 has helped me make_,' they heard Augustine respond. Hearing this, Elena couldn't help but let out a gasp of horror when she heard what Augustine said. '_Is there someone there with you_,' Augustine asked Wes. Stefan, seeing the look on Elena's face, motioned for him to make something up again. Wes quickly said, '_Yeah. A student just caught up with me. She probably needs some help on her homework. I'll be by as soon as my class is over_.' Wes pressed end, effectively ending the conversation.

Stefan quickly took Wes's phone and stuck it in his own pocket to prevent him from getting any ideas of calling for help. "So what are we still doing here," Caroline asked, wanting to get this over with. "Caroline's right," said Elena, "keep walking. You aren't done until I have Damon next to me." Turning around, Wes continued to lead them to the cells where Damon was being held. "So how long have you actually been experimenting on living people," question Caroline. "A vampire is dead, not living. They have no rights. I mean that's what your dad taught me Elena," Wes responded, enjoying the fact that this information would destroy Elena's view on her father, and eventually, her mother. "What are you talking about?" asked Elena, who had stopped and forced him to turn and look at her. "I mean that your dad was a great doctors, but your dad cured some patients that should never have been able to be cured. He saved people through his experiments on vampires. Your old roommate, for one. She would have died when she was seven years old, but your dad saved her through his research. Augustine killed her because she was snooping around too much, trying to figure out what was going on here at the college. "I don't believe you. My dad would never have tortured people like this," Elena replied, looking confused. "But vampires aren't people Elena, they're dead. Why should a vampire be able to live through anything and everything and innocent human beings shouldn't. The experimentations aid the innocents," responded Wes, completely believing that what he said was right. "This is ridiculous. I don't want to hear anymore of these lies. Keep walking, and keep your mouth shut," Elena told him, pushing him forward to get him moving.

Finally making it to the abandoned part of the building, Wes opened a door that was labeled '**Restricted. Do not enter.**' Following him through, Caroline could see that the abandoned building was incredibly large. Leading them to another door, he opened it, revealing a descending staircase. Walking down the stairs, they entered a room filled with barred cells. Elena pushed past Wes, ready to rescue Damon, but saw only disappointment. Damon wasn't there. "What are you playing at," Elena asked, grabbing Wes by the throat and lifting him into the air. "Were is he?" "If he isn't here, then that means

he's with Augustine in his lab," Wes choked out, flailing his feet, trying to break out of Elena's tight grip. "Then you had better lead the way to his lab, or you're not going to be breathing for very much longer," Elena responded, dropping him to the floor. Wes quickly stood up and led them to a staircase on the opposite side of the room. Walking up the stairs, they entered a decrepit, dank room that seemed to have a considerable amount of fire damage. Exiting the room, they walked into a hallway housing many doors.

Walking from the room with the cells, Caroline reflected on what Wes had said about Elena's dad. She had known Dr. Gilbert her entire life and couldn't imagine him being heartless enough to experiment on someone who was alive. She couldn't begin to understand what Elena must be feeling right now. A bombshell like that must be eating away at her consciousness. She knew that her parents had hated vampires, but to mercilessly torture one was over the line. She was snapped out of her thoughts when Wes stopped at one of the doors. Elena quickly pushed Wes out of the way and slowly opened the door. "Wes? What are you doing here? You just told me that you wouldn't be here until after your class. It hasn't been fifteen minutes since the phone call," Augustine said, moving to put the scalpel, dripping with blood, on the stainless steel cart next to him. When Augustine moved away from the medical gurney, Elena was speechless at what she saw lying on the table. Caroline, curious as to why Elena was just standing in the doorway, pushed her into the room and the entire posse followed suit. Hearing the extra sets of footsteps, Augustine turned around and saw who had just walked into the room, preparing to compel them to forget what they had seen, but stopped when he saw who it was.

Caroline could not believe what she was looking at, and had to actually swallow some puke. Averting her eyes from the source making her sick, she noticed the man standing near the gurney. "Wes, what do you think you are doing," Augustine questioned, picking up the scalpel again and moving back towards the table. "They made me bring them here, they're here for 21051," Wes told him. Suddenly Elena knocked Wes out and yelled, "That is not his name. His name is Damon and he's leaving here with us," Elena said looking Augustine in the eyes. "I don't think so," responded Augustine.

**DUHH DUHHH DUHHHHHHH. What's going to happen next? Sorry for taking so long to update. I have been super busy with end of semester tests and the holidays. Plus I had a bit of writers block on where I wanted to take this story. It's probably only got about five to eight more chapter left, so I'll try to get it finished within the next month or two.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9: Breaking Damon Out**

**All rights reserved by L.J. Smith and the CW Network.**

**Hope everyone had a great New Year's Eve and wish everyone a great new year. **

**Elena's P.O.V**

Opening the door to Augustine's lab, Elena prepared herself for what she might see, but nothing she did could prepare her for what she saw when she opened the door. Before her stood a man, presumably Augustine, standing over a body. A body that belonged to Damon. Her back was to him so he believed her to be Wes. "Wes? What are you doing here? You just told me that you wouldn't be here until after your class. It hasn't even been fifteen minutes since the phone call," Augustine said, moving to put a scalpel, dripping with blood, on the stainless steel cart next to him. Augustine moved away from the medical gurney and she could finally see what Augustine had done to Damon. She was stunned speechless at the shape Damon was in. Still standing in the doorway, she felt Caroline push her deeper into the room, probably curious as to why Elena had been standing like a statue in the doorway. Bonnie, Stefan, and Wes followed her in.

Moving her eyes away from the gruesome sight in front of her, she looked towards her friends to see their reactions of the sight before them. Caroline's face was green and she could have sworn that Caroline had just thrown up in her mouth. Stefan's mouth was hanging open and his eye's couldn't leave his brothers mutilated body. Bonnie, who had been the quietest one in the group, actually had tears in her eyes, which was surprising since she supposedly couldn't stand Damon. Maybe that had changed though when Damon had worked to bring her back to life. Wes was indifferent to the scene in front of him. Seeing Wes's face of indifference, along with Augustine's almost gleeful voice, of what was happening to Damon, made her furious.

Hearing the footsteps entering the room, Augustine turned towards the rooms newest occupants. "Wes, what do you think you are doing," Augustine questioned them. Elena watched as he picked up the scalpel again and moved back towards the table, blocking Damon from her sight. "They made me bring them here, they're here for 21051," Wes told him. Hearing the uncaring and uncouth nature of how Wes addressed Damon finally tipped the scales. In extreme anger, she moved with vampire speed and knocked Wes out. Still angry, she yelled, "That is not his name. His name is Damon and he's leaving here with us," Elena said looking Augustine in the eyes. "I don't think so," responded Augustine.

"You have no right to be doing any of this. You are going to hand Damon over to us and then I'm going to kill you for everything you've done to him," Elena exclaimed, walking towards Augustine with every word she said. "The thing is, Elena is it, I'm not weak like Wes. You aren't going to be able to kill me as easily as you think you will. I'm older than you or anyone else in this room, except for 21051, but he isn't a threat," Augustine responded in a bored tone. The next thing Elena could comprehend was the pain of hitting the wall that was behind her. Looking up, she saw Augustine walking towards her.

Before Augustine could move any closer to Elena, he suddenly found himself pinned to the floor by a blonde girl and brunette boy. Gritting her teeth, Elena slowly stood up and moved towards the gurney. When she finally made it to the gurney, she saw that the Damon's injuries were worse than she had initially thought when she had first seen him lying on the table. She could see that his entire chest cavity, including his ribs had been mutilated beyond imagination. His ribs had broken off of the sternum, which was nowhere in sight, and his lungs had been cut out of his chest. Though the two recent discoveries were bone chilling, what really stopped her heart, was the sight of Damon's heart. It had been cut open and she could actually see the inside of his heart.

Having to avert her eyes from the heartbreaking sight, Elena's hands went straight to the clamps that were keeping his skin from healing back together. She then quickly began unbuckling the straps that were keeping him tied down to the gurney, she spared a glance towards the Augustine debacle, who was being held down by Caroline and Stefan. Bonnie, feeling unhelpful, saw a syringe filled with a liquid lying on a table. She ran as fast as she could to the table and grabbed the syringe. Smelling the liquid, she smelled the tell-tale smell of vervain. Running over to the struggling group she jabbed the needle into Augustine's neck. The effects were immediate as she saw Augustine's eyes begin to droop and his head begin to lull. Finally he was out.

Turning her attention away from her trio of friends and the psycho doctor, she finished unbuckling the straps that were holding him down. "Stefan," Elena yelled, "I need your help getting him off of the gurney." Stefan moved from his spot on the floor by the limp mad doctor, he vampire sped his way to help Elena get his brother off of the table. Lowering him to the floor, Elena and Stefan gently set him down. "How are we going to get him home without anyone noticing and what are we going to do with them," Elena questioned them, while simultaneously moving to cradle Damon's head in her lap. "I think that we should throw Augustine into one of the cells and Wes in another and leave them there for a few days, while we figure out what we should do with them," Stefan said. "I think that will work," Caroline agreed, walking over to grab Wes's unconscious body. "I'm going to do a quick search of what kind of information Augustine is keeping in here," Bonnie told them, moving towards the desk that was sitting in the corner of the room.

Elena, Stefan, and Caroline stopped everything they were doing when they heard the sound of a new heartbeat. Looking towards Damon's unconscious body, they saw him starting to move, which quickly turned to panic, probably thinking that he was still strapped to the gurney since Augustine had said that he would be taking his time for this experiment. Looking down, Elena met Damon's ice blue eyes staring back at her. "Damon," Elena whispered bending over to kiss him. But before she could reach his lips, he began twisting and thrashing on the ground. Elena couldn't understand what was wrong until she heard him gasping for air and remembered what Augustine had done to him. Stefan, having not seen the extent of Damon's injuries, began to freak out. "Elena what's wrong with him. Why's he thrashing? What did Augustine do to him," questioned Stefan trying to hold Damon still. Not knowing how to answer Stefan's question, Elena decided to show him what was wrong with his brother. Placing Damon's head on the floor, Elena moved to Damon's side and gently pulled back the flaps of skin. Stefan moved to the other side of Damon and looked into his chest cavity. What he saw made him turn green. He could understand what Damon was going through as he was also forced to suffocate to death repeatedly while locked in the safe.

Damon's gasps started to come slower and slower until they stopped altogether. Elena moved her eyes from Damon's chest to his face. She saw his eyes closing and his body go limp. Moving back to his head, Elena couldn't help but panic seeing him die again in such a painful manner. "Stefan, what are we going to do. This is too much damage. These injuries will take too long to heal," Elena said. "I have an idea," Caroline spoke up, moving closer to the small group with Wes dragging behind her. She did keep her eyes averted from the gruesome scene, that being Damon's chest cavity. "We could always get Meredith's help. She could probably set up a medical room at the boarding house and put him in a medical coma so he can heal," Caroline explained. Elena thought about it and decided that would probably be the best way to help Damon. "Okay, let's do that," Elena said wiping the tears from her eyes. "How are we going to get him out of here without any one seeing, though," Bonnie asked, carrying a huge bag full of files and other assorted items over to the rest of the group. "First, let's get these two locked up downstairs," Stefan said. As an afterthought, he asked, "Was there any more vervain in here." "Ya. I found a full bottle of it," Bonnie told him, picking up the bottle and bringing it over to Stefan. Taking the bottle from Bonnie, he picked up the syringe she had dropped earlier and filled it full enough to knock out Katherine ten times over. Taking the vervain filled syringe, Stefan jabbed it into his neck to make sure that Augustine wouldn't be waking any time soon.

"Caroline and I are going to go lock these two up. We'll be right back," Stefan told Elena and Bonnie. Slinging Augustine's body over his shoulder, he made his way towards the cell, Caroline carrying Wes's body, right behind him.

When they left the room, Bonnie sat next to Elena and pulled her in for a hug. "Did you find anything important in those papers," Elena asked her friend. "Ya, but I think we should worry about that later. Right now we need to get Damon out of here and back to the Boarding House. We can call Meredith on our way back to Mystic Falls and have her take all the supplies that are needed to put Damon in a medical coma. Damon's going to be alright Elena," Bonnie said, trying to comfort Elena as much as possible. "When did you stop hating Damon," Elena asked curiously. "When I saw how happy he made you and how he took good care of Jeremy when you were at college. Plus he helped bring me back to life," Bonnie told her. "Thanks Bonnie," Elena told her.

The sound of footsteps entering the room alerted Elena and Bonnie that someone was coming. Stefan and Caroline came barging through the door. "They're all locked up. Let's get Damon home. Caroline go grab your car. My car isn't big enough," Stefan told her. Caroline rushed off to grab her, while Stefan moved over to Elena and Bonnie. "You grab under his arms, I'll get his legs," Stefan told her, grabbing Damon's legs. Elena did as she was told and they began to gently lift Damon off of the floor. They slowly made their way towards the exit where Caroline would be waiting for them. Walking through the hallways was easy. The hard part was going up and down the stairs leading to the cells. Passing the cells, Elena saw that Caroline and Stefan had thrown Augustine and Wes into separate cells. They finally made it to the exit and saw Caroline's car waiting for them.

They quickly got Damon's body in the backseat and Elena and Bonnie crawled in after him. Stefan took shot-gun for the time being as Caroline was going to drop him off by his car so he could drive home. When Stefan got out of Caroline's car, Bonnie moved to the now vacated front seat, leaving Elena in the backseat, cradling Damon's head in her lap. The then began their drive back to the Boarding House, Stefan following behind them in his classic Porsche.

Pulling out her cell phone, she dialed the Mystic Falls hospital and asked for Meredith Fell when someone answered the phone. Waiting for Meredith to pick up her phone, she stroked Damon's hair. When Meredith finally answered the phone, she got right to the point. _'Elena what do you need, I don't have a lot of time to talk,_' she told Elena in a rushed manner. _'Meredith, is there a way that you could bring a medicine that would put a vampire into a coma and keep him in it for a while,'_ Elena asked getting right to the point. _'Elena, what's wrong,' _Meredith asked, worry creeping into her tone. _'It's Damon. He's in bad shape. Putting him in a coma was Caroline's idea, and I think it will really help him. We just left Whitmore College and are on our way to the Boarding House,' _Elena told Meredith. _'Why isn't Damon just healing on his own,'_ Meredith asked confusion in her tone. _'He's super weak and full of vervain. He couldn't heal a paper cut,' _she told her. _'Okay Elena, I'll bring something over that will do the job,' _Meredith responded. Thinking of the long cut on his front torso, Elena also asked, _'Can you bring some surgical supplies and I.V. drips too.' 'Ya. I'll just bring my entire medical kit. Approximately when will you arrive,' _she asked Elena. _'In about three hours. Thanks Meredith,' _Elena told her hanging up the phone.

"Meredith agreed to help put Damon in a medical coma," Elena exclaimed. "Good, but what are we going to do with Wes and Augustine. We can't just let them go because they'll just keep experimenting on vampires and will probably try to finish off Damon for good," Bonnie said, turning around and looking at the backseat. "We'll worry about that later. I couldn't care less if they starved to death in their cells," Elena said. "What did you find in the lab," Caroline asked, changing the subject, not liking Elena's sinister words. "I found some files of past subjects and the experiments that were done to them," bonnie said grabbing the bag she had put the files in and started flipping through them. "What number did Wes subjugate Damn with," she asked looking at Caroline. "21051," Elena asked, her voice full of anger at the thought of someone thinking someone was less a person just because they were a vampire and would give them a number to be referred, completely ignore their birth name.

Elena could hear the sound of files being flipped through as Bonnie looked for that number. "I found it," said Bonnie, pulling out a thick folder, filled to the brim with papers. Elena's stomach rolled at the thought of what those papers may contain. Opening the folder, Bonnie read a few of the pages and then slammed the folder shut. "I can't read anymore or I'm going to throw up," Bonnie said starting to put the folder back into the bag. "Bonnie, let me see the folder," Elena said, reaching out for the folder, dreading what she would read. Bonnie reluctantly gave her the folder. She then turned herself back around in her seat and looked out the front window, preparing herself for Elena's outburst.

Opening the folder, Elena only read through the first two pages before she violently slammed the folder closed. "How could he do this to Damon," she whispered, looking down at Damon's face. "What is it," Caroline asked, curious as to why her friends were freaking out about what they read. "I can't even talk about it Caroline, it's too terrible," Elena said, tears beginning to stream down her face. Handing the folder back to Bonnie, who put it in the bag with the others, she set her sights on Damon's face and refused to move her eyes away from it for any reason, despite Caroline and Bonnie's attempts. The two girls soon gave up on trying to avert Elena's attention, and the car soon became deathly silent, broken only by the sound of their breaths and heartbeats.

**Woo! Finally done with this chapter. Sorry it took a week for this chapter. I just couldn't decide how I wanted to write this chapter. I didn't kill Damon because then the story would only have maybe one or two more chapters before it was over and I want it to be a little longer than that. So I decided to go with this. I only did Elena's point of view because I wanted to show her thoughts on what she was seeing and what Augustine had done to Damon. I hope it's okay. Review and let me know what you guys think. Feedback helps. Throw some ideas out if you want that might make for great future chapters because right now it's just coming to me as I write. Thanks again for following this story. Writing this story and getting the feedback that you guys give makes me wish that I had started writing fanfiction stories a long time ago. Plus if I mess up somewhere in the story let me know. Thanks!**


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